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December 28,
2001
Copyright © 2001 Earth Policy Institute
Iran's Birth Rate Plummeting at
Record Pace:
Success Provides a Model for Other Developing Countries
Janet Larsen
Iran's population growth rate dropped from an
all-time high of 3.2 percent in 1986 to just 1.2 percent in 2001,
one of the fastest drops ever recorded. In reducing its population
growth to 1.2 percent, a rate only slightly higher than that of
the United States, Iran has emerged as a model for other countries
that want to accelerate the shift to smaller families.
Historically, family planning in Iran has had
its ups and downs. The nation's first family planning policy, introduced
in 1967 under Shah Reza Pahlavi, aimed to accelerate economic growth
and improve the status of women by reforming divorce laws, encouraging
female employment, and acknowledging family planning as a human
right.
Unfortunately, this promising initiative was reversed
in 1979 at the beginning of the decade-long Islamic Revolution led
by Shiite Muslim spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomeini. During this
period, family planning programs were seen as undue western influences
and were dismantled. Health officials were ordered not to advocate
contraception. During Iran's war with Iraq between 1980 and 1988,
a large population was viewed as a comparative advantage, and Khomeini
pushed procreation to bolster the ranks of "soldiers for Islam,"
aiming for "an army of 20 million."
This strong pronatalist stance led to an annual
population growth rate of well over 3 percent. United Nations data
show Iran's population doubling from 27 million in 1968 to 55 million
in 1988.
During postwar reconstruction in the late 1980s,
the economy faltered. Severe job shortages plagued overcrowded and
polluted cities. Iran's rapid population growth was finally seen
as an obstacle to development. Receptive to the nation's problems,
Ayatollah Khomeini reopened dialogue on the subject of birth control.
By December 1989, Iran had revived its national family planning
program. Its principal goals were to encourage women to wait three
to four years between pregnancies, to discourage childbearing for
women younger than 18 or older than 35, and to limit family size
to three children.
In May of 1993, the Iranian government passed
a national family planning law that encouraged couples to have fewer
children by restricting maternity leave benefits after three children.
It also called for the Ministries of Education, of Culture and Higher
Education, and of Health and Medical Education to incorporate information
on population, family planning, and mother and child health care
in curriculum materials. The Ministry of Islamic Culture and Guidance
was told to allow the media to raise awareness of population issues
and family planning programs, and the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting
was entrusted with broadcasting such information. Money saved on
reduced maternity leave funds these educational programs.
From 1986 to 2001, Iran's total fertility-the
average number of children born to a woman in her lifetime-plummeted
from seven to less than three. The United Nations projects that
by 2010 total fertility will drop to two, which is replacement-level
fertility.
Strong government support has facilitated Iran's
demographic transition. Under the current president, Mohammad Khatami,
the government covers 80 percent of family planning costs. A comprehensive
health network made up of mobile clinics and 15,000 "health houses"
provides family planning and health services to four fifths of Iran's
rural population. Almost all of these health care centers were established
after 1990. Because family planning is integrated with primary health
care, there is little stigma attached to modern contraceptives.
Religious leaders have become involved with the
crusade for smaller families, citing them as a social responsibility
in their weekly sermons. They also have issued fatwas, religious
edicts with the strength of court orders, that permit and encourage
the use of all types of contraception, including permanent male
and female sterilization-a first among Muslim countries. Birth control,
including the provision of condoms, pills, and sterilization, is
free.
One of the strengths of Iran's promotion of family
planning is the involvement of men. Iran is the only country in
the world that requires both men and women to take a class on modern
contraception before receiving a marriage license. And it is the
only country in the region with a government-sanctioned condom factory.
In the past four years, some 220,000 Iranian men have had a vasectomy.
While vasectomies still account for only 3 percent of contraception,
compared with female sterilization at 28 percent, men nonetheless
are assuming more responsibility for family planning.
Rising literacy and a national communications
infrastructure are facilitating progress in family planning. The
literacy rate for adult males increased from 48 percent in 1970
to 84 percent in 2000, nearly doubling in 30 years. Female literacy
climbed even faster, rising from less than 25 percent in 1970 to
more than 70 percent. Meanwhile, school enrollment grew from 60
to 90 percent. And by 1996, 70 percent of rural and 93 percent of
urban households had televisions, allowing family planning information
to be spread widely through the media.
As one of 17 countries already facing absolute
water scarcity, Iran's decision to curb its rapid population growth
has helped alleviate unfolding water shortages exacerbated by the
severe drought of the past three years. An estimated 37 million
people, more than half the population, do not have enough water.
The lack of water for irrigation has helped push
Iran's wheat imports to 6.5 million tons in 2001, well above the
5.8 million tons of Japan, traditionally the world's leading importer.
Total grain production dropped steeply between 1998 and 2000, from
17 million to 10 million tons, largely because of the drought. The
grain area harvested has decreased steadily since 1993, rapidly
shrinking grain production per person.
Dwindling per capita arable land and water supplies
reinforce the need for population stabilization through forward-thinking
family planning programs. Had the Iranian population maintained
its 1986 growth rate of 3.2 percent, it would have doubled by 2008,
topping 100 million instead of the projected 78 million.
Because almost 40 percent of Iran's population
is under the age of 15, population momentum is strong and growth
in the immediate future is inevitable. To keep growth rates low,
Iran needs to continue emphasizing the social value of smaller families.
Among the keys to Iran's fertility transition
are universal access to health care and family planning, a dramatic
rise in female literacy, mandatory premarital contraceptive counseling
for couples, men's participation in family planning programs, and
strong support from religious leaders. While Iran's population policies
and health care infrastructure are unique, its land and water scarcity
are not. Other developing countries with fast-growing populations
can profit by following Iran's lead in promoting population stability.
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Copyright
© 2001 Earth Policy Institute
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FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
From Earth Policy Institute
Lester R. Brown, "Stabilizing Population by Reducing
Fertility," Chapter 10 in Eco-Economy:
Building an Economy for the Earth (New York: W.W. Norton
& Company, 2001).
From Other Sources
Akbar Aghajanian and Amir H. Mehryar, "Fertility
Transition in the Islamic Republic of Iran: 1976-1996," Asia-Pacific
Population Journal, Vol. 14, No. 1, 1999, pp. 21-42.
Abubakar Dungus, "Iran's Other Revolution," Populi,
The UNFPA Magazine, September 2000.
Homa Hoodfar and Samad Assadpour, "The Politics
of Population Policy in the Islamic Republic of Iran," Studies
in Family Planning, Vol. 31, No. 1, March 2000, pp. 19-34.
Farzaneh Roudi, "Iran's Revolutionary Approach to
Family Planning," Population Today, July/August 1999, pp.
4-5.
Robin Wright, "Iran's New Revolution," Foreign
Affairs, January/February 2000.
United Nations, World Population Prospects: The
2000 Revision (New York: February 2001).
LINKS
Population Action International http:/www.populationaction.org
Population Council
http:/www.popcouncil.org
Population Reference Bureau http:/www.prb.org
United Nations Population Division
http:/www.un.org/esa/
population/unpop.htm
United Nations Population Fund http:/www.unfpa.org
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